Untreated wastewater pollutes Lô river in Hà Giang

HÀ GIANG — Three factories in Nam Quang industrial zone in the northern province of Hà Giang have been found releasing untreated wastewater into Lô River.

The Công an Nhân dân (People’s Public Security) newspaper has reported that two of the five wastewater discharge pipes installed are discharging opaque yellow and foamy wastewater that has an unpleasant odour into the river, which borders both Hà Giang and Tuyên Quang provinces.

In January, inspectors from Tuyên Quang province’s Department of Environment and Natural Resources examined the river and made a report on the pollution.

The three factories include a cassava starch factory and two paper factories, which were previously inspected and fined hundreds of millions of đồng for untreated wastewater discharge.

Water is discharged from 9pm to 4am daily, said Trần Văn An, a ferryman in northern Tuyên Quang Province. “It smells so bad that I feel suffocated,” he told the newspaper.

The pollution can affect the livelihoods of people in both provinces.

Nguyễn Hoàng Hải, deputy director of Tuyên Quang province’s Department of Environment and Natural Resources, told the newspaper on Wednesday that the department had examined the river and asked the environment department of Hà Giang province to inspect the production activities of factories in the industrial zone and ask them to abide by environmental protection regulations as well as strictly punish those found to release untreated wastewater in Lô River. — VNS